What are the requirements of ACS accreditation? Philosophical requirements: Evidence of a clear understanding of the nature and purpose of a classical education and an incorporation of that understanding in the school’s operating documents and public statements Academic requirements: A clearly articulated statement of the school’s academic goals at every level and a clear process of ensuring the achieving those goals Curricular requirements: Full or partial implementation of the Latin-centered Classical Core Program Methodological requirements: Demonstration of an understanding of the importance of traditional, teacher-directed instruction in the classroom and a process by which those methodologies are communicated to school staff Assessment requirements: Demonstration of the value-added benefit of the school’s academic program through standardized test scores and compliance with ACS’s regular process of reporting test scores Doctrinal requirements: A doctrinal statement consisting of the Nicene Creed or a statement of belief consistent with the Nicene Creed.[1] Other Information Required from Schools: A copy of current school bylaws (for existing schools only) List of staff and faculty which includes grades and subjects taught and level of education List of books and resources used in current curriculum A statement of faith consisting of or consistent with the Nicene Creed and verification…

Why the liberal arts are worth preserving

From the August 7th Wall Street Journal article, “The Suicide of the Liberal Arts,” by John Agresto: “To restore the liberal arts, those of us who teach should begin by thinking about students. Almost all of them have serious questions about major issues, and all of them are looking for answers. What is right? What is love? What do I owe others? What do others owe me?”

In too many places these are not questions for examination but issues for indoctrination. Instead of guiding young men and women by encouraging them to read history, biography, philosophy and literature, we’d rather debunk the past, deconstruct the authors and dethrone our finest minds and statesmen.

… Finally, a word to secondary schools and their teachers: You may be the last hope many of your students will have to think broadly and seriously about literature, science, math and history. If they don’t read Homer or Shakespeare, or marvel at the working of the universe, or read and understand the Constitution, they never will. The hope of liberal learning rests on your shoulders. Please don’t shrug.

When properly conceived and taught, the liberal arts do not by themselves make us “better people” or (God knows) more “human.” They don’t exist to make us more “liberal,” at least in the contemporary political sense. But the liberal arts can do something no less wonderful: They can open our eyes.

They show us how to look at the world and the works of civilization in serious and important and even delightful ways. They hold out the possibility that we will know better the truth about many of the most important things. They are the vehicle that carries the amazing things that mankind has made—and the memory of the horrors that mankind has perpetrated—from one age to the next. They teach us how to marvel.

I think Agresto may needlessly downplay the role the humanities in making us better people. It is in history and literature, after all that we see the best and worst in human beings, learning how to imitate the former and avoid the latter. But he does say the can’t do this “alone,” about which he is probably right.

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